Shangri-La is a fictional place in Tibet's Kunlun Mountains, described in the 1933 novel Lost Horizon by English author James Hilton. Hilton portrays Shangri-La as a mystical, harmonious valley, gently guided from a lamasery, enclosed in the western end of the Kunlun Mountains. Shangri-La has become synonymous with any earthly paradise, particularly a mythical Himalayan utopia – an enduringly happy land, isolated from the world. In the novel, the people who live in Shangri-La are almost immortal, living hundreds of years beyond the normal lifespan and only very slowly aging in appearance.
Zhangzhung or Shangshung was an ancient kingdom in western and northwestern Tibet, pre-dating Tibetan Buddhism. Zhangzhung culture is associated with the Bon religion, which has influenced the philosophies and practices of Tibetan Buddhism. Zhangzhung people are mentioned frequently in ancient Tibetan texts as the original rulers of today's western Tibet. Only in the last two decades have archaeologists been given access to do field work in the areas once ruled by the Zhangzhung.
Guge was an ancient dynastic kingdom in Western Tibet. The kingdom was centered in present-day Zanda County, Ngari Prefecture, Tibet Autonomous Region. At various points in history after the 10th century AD, the kingdom held sway over a vast area including south-eastern Zanskar, upper Kinnaur district, and Spiti Valley, either by conquest or as tributaries. The ruins of the former capital of the Guge kingdom are located at Tsaparang in the Sutlej valley, not far from Mount Kailash and 1,200 miles (1,900 km) west from Lhasa.
António de Andrade was a Jesuit priest and explorer from Portugal. He entered the Society of Jesus in 1596. From 1600 until his death in 1634 he was engaged in missionary activity in India. Andrade was the first known European to have crossed the Himalayas and reached Tibet, establishing the first Catholic mission on Tibetan soil.
Rudok, also spelt Rutok and Rutog, more properly Rudok Dzong, is a town that served as the historical capital of the Rudok area in Western Tibet on the frontier with Ladakh. In the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica, it is described as being "picturesquely situated" on the side of a hill standing isolated in the plain near the east end of Lake Pangong.
Tibetology refers to the study of things related to Tibet, including its history, religion, language, culture, politics and the collection of Tibetan articles of historical, cultural and religious significance. The last may mean a collection of Tibetan statues, shrines, Buddhist icons and holy scripts, Thangka embroideries, paintings and tapestries, jewellery, masks and other objects of fine Tibetan art and craftsmanship.
Ippolito Desideri was an Italian Jesuit missionary and traveller and the most famous of the early European missionaries who founded Catholic Church in Tibet. He was also the first documented Tibetologist and the first European to have successfully studied both Classical and Standard Tibetan.
The location of Tibet, deep in the Himalaya mountains, made travel to Tibet extraordinarily difficult at any time, in addition to the fact that it traditionally was forbidden to all western foreigners. The internal and external politics of Tibet, China, Bhutan, Assam, and the northern Indian kingdoms combined rendered entry into Tibet politically difficult for all Europeans. The combination of inaccessibility and political sensitivity made Tibet a mystery and a challenge for Europeans well into the 20th century.
Khorzhak Monastery is a Buddhist monastery in Khorzhak town, Burang county, Ngari Prefecture in western Tibet. It is located not far to the southeast of Burang and just northeast of the Indian border. The town and temple are known as Kojanath in Hindi. The village is situated on a beautiful spot at a bend of the Karnali River from where one can see the large red wall of the temple facing the river with a huge inscription on it of the six-syllable mantra, "Om Mani Padme Hum".
Simbiling Monastery, also known as Shambuling Gompa, Shepeling Dzong and Taklakot Gompa, was located next to the large fort of Tegla Kar on a ridge near Taklakot, above the town of Purang, in the Ngari province, which is just over the border from India, in western Tibet in the valley of the Karnali River, which is known in Tibet as the Mapchchu Khambab - the 'Peacock Mouth River' or 'River Formed from the Mouth of a Peacock'.
Purang or Burang, known as Puhreng in Tibetan, (Nepali:ताक्लाकोट) is a town which serves as the administrative center of Purang County, Ngari Prefecture of the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR), China. The town lies at an altitude of 3,900m in the valley of the Karnali River. The town spans an area of 3,257.81 square kilometres (1,257.85 sq mi), and has a permanent population 6,047 as of 2010, and a hukou population of 4,477 as of 2018. To the south are Gurla Mandhata and the Abi Gamin ranges. Lake Manasarovar and Mount Kailash are to the north. This region is the mythological and actual river nexus of the Himalaya with sources of the Indus, Ganges and Yarlung Tsangpo/Brahmaputra all within 110 kilometres (70 mi) of Purang.
Tholing, also called Zanda, is a town and the seat of Zanda County, Ngari Prefecture, in the west of Tibet Autonomous Region, People's Republic of China. The town was the former capital of Guge Kingdom in western Tibet. Now it is an isolated military town. It has a well laid out new street, a post office, and telecommunication facilities. The Tholing Monastery, established in 997 AD, is in the suburbs of the town, in the Grand canyon of the Langchen Tsangpo. Historically, it was an important monastery; the second dissemination of Buddhism in Tibet emanated from it.
The main religion in Tibet has been Buddhism since its outspread in the 8th century AD. As of 2022 the historical region of Tibet is mostly comprised in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR) of China and partly in the Chinese provinces of Qinghai and Sichuan. Before the arrival of Buddhism, the main religion among Tibetans was an indigenous shamanic and animistic religion, Bon, which would later influence the formation of Tibetan Buddhism and still attracts the allegiance of a sizeable minority of Tibetans.
Tholing Monastery is the oldest monastery in the Ngari Prefecture of western Tibet. It is situated in Tholing (Zanda), Zanda County, near the Indian border of Ladakh. It was built in 997 AD by Yeshe-Ö, the second King of the Guge Kingdom. In Tibetan language 'Tholing' means "hovering in the sky forever" and is reflected by the location of the monastery at an elevation of 12,400 feet (3,800 m). The complex includes three temples, the Yeshe-O Temple, the Lhakhang Karpo and the Dukhang. There are many ancient, precious, and well-preserved frescoes.
The Tegla Kar Dzong was a fort located on a cliff above the town of Burang in Burang County, southwestern Tibet near the Nepalese border. It seems that the Tegla Kar was built during the Zhangzhung period which was conquered by the Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo in the beginning of 7th century. It became the main fort of the kingdom of Burang in the 10th century during the reign of King Kori. The kingdom disappeared during the 15th century. After the decline of the kingdom the Dzong was converted into a convent. Tegla Kar and the nearby Simbiling Monastery was completely destroyed by artillery in 1967 during the Chinese Cultural Revolution.
The Era of Fragmentation was an era of disunity in Tibetan history lasting from the death of the Tibetan Empire's last emperor, Langdarma, in 842 until Drogön Chögyal Phagpa became the Imperial Preceptor of the three provinces of Tibet in 1253, under the Yuan dynasty. During this period, the political unity of the Tibetan Empire collapsed following a civil war between Yumtän and Ösung (’Od-srung), after which followed numerous rebellions against the remnants of imperial Tibet and the rise of regional warlords.
Purang-Guge kingdom was a small Western Himalayan kingdom which was founded and flourished in the 10th century in western Tibet.
Yeshe-Ö (spiritual names: Jangchub Yeshe-Ö, Byang Chub Ye shes' Od, Lha Bla Ma, Hla Lama Yeshe O, Lalama Yixiwo, also Dharmaraja was the first notable lama-king in Tibet. Born as Khor-re, he is better known as Lhachen Yeshe-Ö, his spiritual name.
Kyide Nyimagon, whose original name was Khri-skyid-lding, was a member of the Yarlung dynasty of Tibet and a descendant of emperor Langdarma. He migrated to Western Tibet and founded the kingdom of Ngari Khorsum around 912 CE. After his death, his large kingdom was divided among his three sons, giving rise to the three kingdoms of Maryul (Ladakh), Guge-Purang and Zanskar-Spiti.
Tashigang (Tibetan: བཀྲ་ཤིས་སྒང་, Wylie: bkra shis sgang, THL: tra shi gang, transl. "auspicious hillock"), with a Chinese spelling Zhaxigang , is a village in the Gar County of the Ngari Prefecture, Tibet. The village forms the central district of the Zhaxigang Township. It houses an ancient monastery dating to the 11th century.
